Homepage of Branch 263 of the British Sub Aqua Club

HVSAC Members News Area

The section of the site contains information and resources useful to members of the club.

Useful information:-

News

Boat Status (02/03/09)

This is just a note to let all members know the state of the club boats. Firstly, the Sea Rider has had maintenance and repair work performed and completed. The trailer is now perfectly servicable having had rollers, winch and bearings replaced and the boat itself is the same with all the electronics, engine, hull, ropes and everything else fine. In short, the boat and trailer are completely sea worthy and ready to be used and can even towed somewhere for use.

The bad news is that during the maintenance day we discovered the boat has had several things stolen from it. These include the GPS antenna and pole mount (cut and stolen entirely), several of our 25l fuel containers, our shot weights, our spare lead and the BDH watertight containers containing tools and tube repair materials. This is despite the boat being in a locked compound and under a cover. The items have been replaced unfortunately at a cost for the club and we are thinking of new ideas to make things there slightly more secure.

The other boat (humber) is still awaiting either a new engine or sale.

Farne Islands Trip, March 2009

The club is arranging a trip to the Farne Islands for 2 days of diving in March 2009. The plan is to leave on the Friday (20/3/2009) with diving on the Saturday and Sunday (21st and 22nd March) then return home that Sunday evening. Accomodation is in a bunkhouse in Seahouses at £12 per night. Each day of diving costs £50 (RIBs) so the trip is £124 excluding gas, food and fuel. Anyone interested we need a minimum of 6 people and a deposit of £50 is required by Thursday 5th March at the latest to guarantee your place.

The Farnes has a reputation for good diving with seals as well as some good wrecks. Anyone interested contact Richard or Martin via email or telephone.

Christmas Closure dates (16/12/08)

E.V. leisure centre will be closed for the following dates over the Christmas period:

Thursday 18th December:- The POOL is OPEN as normal for us. However, there is NO BAR after due to a private function being held there

Thursday 25th December:- Christmas day. So its shut!

Thursday 1st January:- New years day. So again, its closed!

Thursday 8th January:- Business as usual, both pool and bar open and for the usual times

Newsletter

A newsletter has been written and posted to many members. For anyone who has not received it by post or wants it electronically it's available to download on the website or via email.

Red Sea Photos

Photos from the club trip to the Red Sea onboard M/V Valerie are now online. All in all people managed over 18 hours underwater in just 5.5 days and took over 1200 photos - most of which were not worth keeping! The best are here: http://www.hvsac.co.uk/gallery2/v/valerie/

Try Dive Night (20/09/08)

We will be holding a try dive in the pool for anyone thinking of learning to dive in the next intake. This will involve a short pool side lesson followed by a short dive in the pool on SCUBA equipment. The pool session starts at 1900 until 2000. For more information on what it involves see this section of the site.

We will be taking a maximum of 6 new trainees on a first come first served basis. Anyone interested in learning or the try dive please email or contact Steve Humphreys via the telephone number provided on the BSAC site. We MUST have advance notice of anyone wishing to do the dive.

In addition to that, a medical form must be completed or if any of the questions are a "yes", a doctor must have signed the form before you are allowed to train or a try dive. Click here to download the form.

New Ocean Diver Training Dates (20/09/08)

We will be taking on new Ocean Diver trainees (first qualification level) on a course due to commence around the end of October. There are a MAXIMUM of 6 places on this course and allocated on a first come, first served basis. If you are interested in learning to dive then email the club or contact Steve via the telephone number provided on the BSAC site.

AGM 2008

The clubs Annual General Meeting will be held in the Leisure Centre on Thursday November 6th 2008. Forms for nominations for the new committee along with any other comments and issues to be brought up will be posted out to members shortly. All committee positions will be up for election and nominations will need to be in 2 weeks before that date.

2008 Christmas Party

The xmas party is being provisionally arranged for Saturday December 13th 2008. Venue to be confirmed. Price will be approximately £6-£8 per person and the usual buffet with music format. More details when they are confirmed.

Leisure Centre Closure (15/07/08)

The entire leisure centre will be closed on Thursday 17th July 2008 due to a strike affecting council workers. This means no pool OR bar this week. In effect everything is cancelled. Normal service is resumed from 24/7/08.

Leisure Centre Bar Closures (22/04/08)

The upstairs bar in the leisure centre will be unavailable on the following dates:

Thursday 1st May 2008 (due to elections)

Thursday 15th May 2008 (due to some silly theatre thing wanting a VIP bar)

On both these dates the pool will be available as normal from 1900 - 2000. We may decide on an alternate venue for those dates and if so it will be posted here. Obviously this will probably affect one of the planned Sports Diver lectures as it falls on one of these dates.

Sports Diver Training (28/03/08)

Sports Diver training at the club will start on Thursday May 8th 2008 with a lecture. This is the 2nd level BSAC course and is open to all people currently qualified as Ocean Divers or anyone who has completed all the Ocean Diver theory lessons and passed the theory exam. The course includes rescue skills (including CPR/AV) and qualifies you to dive to 35m including dives involving mandatory in-water decompression stops.

The full course consists of:

For a full description of the course see this link.

Anyone wanting to be on this course MUST let Richard know by NO LATER THAN APRIL 17th. For each student we need to order the sports diver training pack costing £22 (plus p&p) and need to know numbers and have a cheque paid to the club by this date. If you don't have the training pack you can't start the course and it takes a few weeks to get the packs hence this deadline.

Red Sea trip deposits required (17/03/08)

There is a trip to the Red Sea running on October 3rd to October 10th 2008 to the Red Sea. Flying from Manchester to Hurghada it then joins the liveaboard M/Y Valerie for 6 days diving around The Brothers. Cost is approximately £853 per person. Payment of the deposit of £200 is due immediately and the rest to be paid 10 weeks before departure.

For more information see the Red Sea Divers site here.

Currently 10 people from the club are confirmed as going and 8 places remain. These 8 places are now being advertised publicly by the company so if you want a space it's first come first served and maybe not be free for long. Contact Chris James for details.

Acting diving officer (30/01/08)

Due to the elected diving officer being away on and off for the next few months Chris James has been appointed acting diving officer so any problems get in touch with him!

Boat Handling Course (4/1/08)

We're looking at arranging a boat handling course for the end of January. This course is open to ALL including people not yet qualified to dive (so thats no excuse). It'll be run in West Wales using the club boat. The full course is 2 days, 1 of theory and 1 of practical boat handling although the theory could be completed in advance turning it into a 1 day course. Numbers will be limited so first come, first served so contact someone at the club if interested. You need absolutely NO prior experience in boating to sit this course and there is no exam - its purely a course.

The more people the club has that can handle the boat the easier it is to run the boats most weekends as it gives us far more options of who can dive and so on. We're looking at running the course on the weekend of 26-27th January 2008.

If anyone is interested in what you need to do then see here for the syllabus:

http://www.bsac.org/page/596/boat-handling-course.htm

PLEASE NOTE:- THIS COURSE IS NOW (OVER)FULL SO PLEASE NO MORE APPLICANTS!

Ebbw Vale re-opens (4/1/08)

Ebbw Vale leisure centre re-opens next week so the club will once again be back at the leisure centre from Thursday 10th January 2008 with pool at the usual time, 1900-2000 and bar upstairs after that.

Pool fee increase (21/11/07)

During the AGM a proposal to increase the pool fees was debated and voted on. This was due to the cost of pool hire going up dramatically and the club losing money each week. The vote was to increase the fees to the following: Adult £2.50, Child £1.00 and is effective immediately.

More details of the Red Sea trip

The boat M/Y Valerie has now been provisionally booked for October 3rd 2008 and Chris requires deposits ASAP from anyone wanting to go. Anyone with a deposit to pay or is interested in going, please contact Chris James.

October 2007 committee meeting minutes available (16/10/07)

The minutes for the October 2007 committee meeting are now available in the members area.

AGM Details (16/10/07)

The AGM will be held on Thursday November 15th at 20:30 in the Youth Room at Ebbw Vale Leisure Centre. Notification to members will be sent out this week along with committee nomination forms. Any nominations or items to be included on the agenda MUST be submitted to the club no later than Thursday 1st November. Any items or nominations arriving after that date can NOT be accepted.

Christmas Party (15/10/07)

The christmas party date has been set for Saturday December 1st in the leisure centre. Curry night with an artist and disco. Anyone wanting tickets needs to contact Isabel A.S.A.P. as she is trying to organise it.

Tickets cost £6 per head. Doors open at 6.30pm with food served from 8.00pm. The bar is open until midnight with the event closing 30 minutes after that.

Failing that, tickets are apparently now available from the Leisure Centre reception although as the event is shared with the public there are few left.

Dive Show Trip, NEC

Club trip to the dive show in Birmingham on Sunday 14th October 2007.

Red Sea 2008 trip (08/07/07)

Chris James is trying to organise a trip to the red sea (Brothers) in October 2008. The cost will be approximately £899 and there are 18 places allocated on a first come, first served basis. For more details ask at the club or contact Chris James via email.

Member contact details database running (20/02/2007)

Test version of the members contact details searchable database is running.

How to upload your photographs to the gallery (15/02/2007)

There is now a tutorial that hopefully should explain to people exactly how to put their own photographs on the gallery part of this site. Click here for the article.

 

 

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